By Amos Aar
DISTRIBUTORS in Benue state have appealed to Governor Hyacinth Alia to prevail on the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to sell Benue sacks sizes 28 by 47 at the cost of four hundred naira (N400) only when flagged off for sale next week so that the product will be affordable to peasant farmers.
Well-informed government sources confided in National Record that the plan to produce standardised measures in the state has been on even since the last administration; a plan that is said to have been perfected and will soon be rolled out.
Rising from a meeting with the Commissioner of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Manasseh Alumo Orpin, on Monday, the distributors told National Record correspondent on condition of anonymity that the vendors contracted by the ministry to produce the sacks were insisting on selling at retail cost of N450 per sack while the ministry planned to add twenty naira (N20) per sack, making it N470 per sack.
The distributors expressed worry that if the state-owned sacks are sold at about N500, the price will be higher by the time the sacks will be taken to rural market by traders at higher rates.
“Government price of commodities usually control market price. For instance, when a bag of fertilizer was sold at forty-five thousand naira which was unaffordable to many farmers, Governor Alia subsidised fertilizer and brought the price down to seventeen thousand naira only and the marketers had no choice but to trim down their cost to sustain patronage.
“The governor is trying to alleviate the suffering of the poor masses but it seems his appointees are not on the same page with him,” one of the distributors lamented.
However, when contacted to know why government owned sacks would be costlier than its market equivalent and if it was possible for the government to yield to the demand of the distributors, commissioner of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Manasseh Alumo Orpin, argued that the market cost of similar sacks in the villages across Benue State was even up to seven hundred naira (N700) in village markets higher than in Wurukum market, Makurdi where the reporter confirmed the price to be N400.
Although Alumo said that deliberation on the matter were still on and another meeting will be convened next week to finalize the talks, he explained that the government price of N450 was to ensure quality and to protect the interest of farmers, adding that the contributors were given opportunity to produce their sacks according to government’s specifications and sell it even at two hundred naira (N200) if they choose to do so.
“Go to the village markets and find out because government people sell in Wurukum market. I’m telling you that because after that meeting, people in villages gave me statistics. In some places, they are selling it between N700 and N600. Those people are distributors and they came here fighting for their interest. I got the game plan after the meeting.
“Government has not used its money to buy the sacks. This is a private investment. Individuals have produced the sacks with one pattern used in the market. Even yesterday, I threw it open to them that if there was anybody who could produce quality sacks and give us at N200, such a person should produce it and bring to me so that I will collect and sell at that price.
“We awarded contract for the production of the sacks at three hundred naira (N300) but it was not possible. You are in Nigeria and you are seeing how the price is tumbling from last year up to this year. If you go to the market, you will get sacks for N600, N500 and even N400. But quality bags are sold in the market at N700. We (government) don’t sell condom sacks, our bags don’t stretch. What happens is that some sacks that don’t meet standard in the market are rejected and kept aside. When somebody comes and demands for a N400 sack, they give the less quality bag to such person who will go back and say they bought it at N400. So, the idea is to protect the farmers.
“Next week unfailingly, we are going to have another meeting to look at the prices again and the Benue sacks will be flagged off,” the commissioner disclosed.
National Record observed that sacks similar to the Benue sacks by size which are size 29, 30 and 31 were not of the same price in village markets having gathered from Gungul market in Konshisha LG as at September 3, 2024 to be N500. In Zaki-Biam yam market in Ukum local government, the price was between N500 and N600 as charged by different sellers.
But in any case, the distributors want the state government to keep the price of Benue sacks low so as to control the market price.
